


Breathe Again

by PompousPickle



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Friendship, Gen, Mentions of PTSD, Team RNJR, basically I just want these four to be one big pile of family and feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-16
Updated: 2016-03-16
Packaged: 2018-05-27 00:59:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6263266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PompousPickle/pseuds/PompousPickle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Spending the night in the woods, Jaune and the others attempt to start a fire.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Breathe Again

“I could always, you know, start a fire using lightning,” Nora suggested as she and Ruby uselessly rubbed sticks together. 

“We are _not_ burning down the entire forest.” Jaune rummaged around in his bags. He could have sworn he packed a lighter. Why _wouldn’t_ he have packed a lighter? Another checked box on the list of why he was completely hopeless. He held his breath as he shuffled through the bag. He found himself doing that a lot, keeping his words and his breath caught in his throat. Unable to escape it.

Ren raised an eyebrow as Jaune pulled out various and assorted supplies. They were all things Jaune found necessary for survival, from knives to napkins to food rations. “Marshmallows?” Ren leaned over and grabbed an unopened bag of large marshmallows.

Jaune felt himself flush over, ready to open his mouth to stumble out some kind of explanation.  However, before he could say anything, Nora’s head immediately shot up. “Marshmallows?”

Ruby’s head was soon to follow. “Oooooh!” she exclaimed, completely dropping her sticks and rushing over to Jaune’s side in a flash of rose petals. The next thing he knew, Ruby was back in her spot around the cold pile of fire tinder opening up the bag. “Yang and I used to do this all the time! We’d go out camping in the woods behind our house and we’d roast marshmallows until Dad came and found us. I’ll have you know that I’m the world’s expert in getting each marshmallow to the perfect shade of golden-brown.” Ruby’s voice had a playful lilt to it, until she looked back at the fire pit. “Of course, it would probably help if we had something to roast them on.”

Jaune let out the smallest wince in apology before the man next to him let out a sigh. “Fine,” Ren grunted out before reaching over and grabbing a stone and a few sticks. “One of these days, Nora, I’ll get you to do this yourself.”

Within twenty seconds, Ren had struck a spark and lit one of the sticks. Within another thirty seconds, he had lit the fire pit and coaxed it to a full flame. “Thank you Ren,” Nora said in a loud sing-song as she reached over to grab some of the marshmallows from Ruby’s bag.

“You could do that the whole time?” Jaune felt his voice crack as he asked, as though he were somehow betrayed by this fact. And in some way, he felt as though he had been. Ren only shrugged in way of apology.

“Pffft, duh!” Nora didn’t even bother roasting the marshmallows before stuffing them into her mouth. “Inf duf orfafej duf fofah foulf ouf.” Her words were barely audible, her cheeks filled to their limit with the snack.

Jaune and Ruby looked at Ren for some kind of translation. “In the orphanage, the power would go out sometimes,” Ren clarified. “The older kids would always light fires for the younger kids so we could keep warm. It’s a learned skill.”

Meanwhile, Ruby was carefully spacing her marshmallows out onto a long stick and judging the proper distance to hold the stick from the flame. “Then wait,” she said with pause, glancing up from her craft. “Then how come you don’t know how to do it, Nora?”

With a thick swallow, Nora wiped her mouth clean and shrugged. “Never bothered. I like chopping and gathering the wood more. Besides, I always had Ren there for me!” Without warning, her voice lowered from a playful chirp to a strained and nervous laugh.

After a small stretch of silence, Ren finally said what everyone else was thinking. “I might not be here forever.”

The crackle of the fire was suddenly all Jaune could hear. He stared into the flames, watching the red and gold dance around each other and lick the tinder, turning the bits of paper and the smaller sticks to ashes. It consumed all, leaving nothing but dust.

No one had to say it. Even though only Ruby was there to witness it, they all felt the flames still, and heard the ringing silence as everything went white. Jaune touched his lips gently, trying not to think about it, trying to keep breathing. Trying not to close his eyes and see her face again and again, the way he always did in his dreams.

Ruby is the first one to speak, shooting up from her seat and waving her impaled marshmallows in the air. “Don’t talk like that! I mean, look at the four of us!” she exclaimed. Her voice was a little too high but her smile seemed real. It was a comfort. “We have the world’s strongest wood-gatherer,” she said, motioning towards Nora. “And an _expert_ at starting fires! And _I’m_ the leading specialist in roasting the perfect marshmallow! And Jaune…” She gave a long pause. “Well Jaune brought the marshmallows, so that’s something!”

Nonetheless, the blonde couldn’t help but smile, however small. “Thanks, I think.”

“Regardless, here we are! Team RNJR is unstoppable!” Ruby thrust her stick in the air, pausing for dramatic effect, or perhaps expecting some sort of applause.

“Ranger?” Nora then asked with a snort, cocking her head to the side.

“Yeah. R-N-J-R. You know, like Ruby, Nora, Jaune and Ren!” Ruby explained, sitting back down and returning to her task of roasting her marshmallows.

“Hmmm…no. I don’t like it.” Nora then shook her head decisively. “I think it should be J-R-N-R. Like Journeyer. You know, because we’re on a _journey_? Duh!”

“Yeah? Well…I like RNJR because we…range around?” Ruby tried with a small wince.

“That makes no sense.”

“YOU make no sense!” Ruby tossed her bag of marshmallows at Nora, hitting the girl square in the face. Nora didn’t seem to mind though, simply tearing into the bag and stuffing two more marshmallows into her mouth before continuing to argue unintelligibly.

Jaune focused his eyes to the fire, letting Ruby and Nora’s banter fill in the background and come into harmony with the sound of the flames fizzing and the wood cracking under it. And for the first time since the Battle, the cold didn’t feel as biting. The world didn’t seem to spinning so quickly, so far out of control. For the first time in a long time, Jaune felt like things were normal. Like things could be normal again.

“Uh, Jaune?” Ren asked, his voice sounding a little strained. It was only then Jaune noticed that he was slumped over, his head resting on his friend’s shoulder. He had finally given himself a moment to relax and lay his head somewhere. “I don’t mind, but you’re too tall to be resting your head on me. It’s awkward.”

“Don’t ruin the moment, Ren,” Jaune managed with a sigh, refusing to move. He watched the three friends he now called his team. The three people that he now called his family. It was cold in the forest, still in the brisk of winter and no signs of spring coming soon. But by the fire, with the support and the smiles and smell of roasting marshmallows, it was easy to feel a little less numb. Jaune could almost breathe again.


End file.
